Die assembly for forming hollow metal articles



Dec. 19., 1939. F. B. WENDEL 2,183,702

. DIE ASSEMBLY Fon Pomme HoLLow METAL'ARTICLES Original File-d May 1l,1937 2 Sheets-Sheet l Il' ggz.

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Dec. 19,` 1939. F. B.. WENDEL DIE ASSEMBLY FOR FORMING HOLLOW METALARTICLES original Filed May 11, 1937 Patented D. 19, 1939 UNITED s'rATi-:sI

aisance mE ASSEMBLY For, roxanne., noLLow METAL An'rlcLEs Fran? BertilWendel, Waterbury..

original application May 11, viiizi'z, serial No.

141,936.` Divided and this application Decemfbcr 9, 1938, Serial No.244,781

zciaims; (ci. s-4.a)

This invention relates to improvements in die assembiies/andparticularly to die assembliesior forming hollow sheet-metal elbows orthe like.

This application is a division of my application 5 Ser. No. 141,936filed May 11, 1937.

One of the objects of the present invention is to provide a superior dieassembly or the character' referred to which may be produced at alustrated'in Figs. l, 2 and 3, the grooves II. I8,

low cost for manufacture. l0 Another object is to provide a superior dief assembly in which the component units maybe readily opened and closed.

With 'the above and other'objects in view,y as

will appear to those skilled in theartd'rom the Il present disclosure,this invention includes all features in the said disclosure which arenovel over theprlor art and which are not claimed by me in a'separateapplication.

'In the accompanying drawings -in which one way of carrying out thepresent invention. is

shown for illustrative purposes:

ng. 1 is a vertical sectional ,view online l---iA oi Pig. 3, withcertain of the parts shown .in elevation and with plungers and= blanksadded; g5 Fig-2 isa view similar toFl' 1 but with more oi' the dieassembly shown in e vation, and also.

illustrating 'a different stage of the operation;

Fig. 3 is a top plan view oi the die assembly shown in Figs. 1 and 2,without the plungers and goblanks:

Fig. 4 is a broken view thereof in end elevation;

5 is a perspective view of the die assembly with one oifthe guide-diesshown detached'and in vertical longitudinal section; l. l j

' Fig. 6 is a side elevation partly in section oi a secpnd-stae elbowblank;

7 yis a side elevation partly in section oa thirgltage'elbow blank: and.8 is 8 side elevation partly. in section oi a o completed elbow.

f 'nie die assemmy ulustrated in rigs. .its 5 of' the drawings includesyan inverted T-shaped de- -die unit which comprises a base'block Ilan avertical block ll'rigidly secured together 5 by a suitable number oidolci-pins l2 andscrews ll. The opposite vertical walls lor laces i4 andi5 of the vertical block il are respectively formed with a plurality ofvertical guide-channel grooves `ll .and l1 which are respectivelysmoothly- 50. merged byarcuate deilecting-channel grooves I8 ilv withhorizontal f deflecting-channel.

grooves 12| and 2| in the VAupper i'ace of the base and blockll. 'I'hegrooves It to2l are, in eilect, conf "tinuous andare all'of-semicircular forni in crossan section.

Fitting into the angular notch-like recesses provided on the oppositesides of the detlecting-die l unit, are guide-die units 22 and 22respectively having yvertical guide-channel' grooves 24 and' 25 whicharerespectively merged by larcuate de- Il flecting-channel grooves' 26 and.21 with horizontal deflecting-channel grooves 28 and-29 in the underlaces of the units 22 and 22. As ilva, cylindrical stop-abutment securedto the base block I0 by a screw 26 and havinga nat -20 inner-face 21.

-'Ilie guide-die units 22 and 22 oi the dicas- Y sembly illustrated inthe drawings may' be brought into assembled relation and held therein byany suitable means, such, ior example, as the mechanism illustrated Emypreviously mentioned application ser. No. 141,936 which is adapted to'actuate the guide-dieunits horizontally back and forth betwreen theopen dotted line and closed full linepositions shown in Figs. 1 and 2 bymeans so of the I members 2l an 2l. The plungers Il and 4I are carriedby a pl er-head or ram (not shown) of any suitable p ess. such, forexample.'

aas thatillustrated in my afore-mentioned application.

First-'stage or test-tube shaped blanks 4t2 of u copper or othersuitable metal, after havingv been filled with oil or the like, areforcibly displaced longitudinally by means oi the plungers 40 until theyseat in the' hemispherical recesses. 34 of the o stop-abutments 32. Inthis operation,- due to .the-

fact that'each curve .IB is of greater length than curve 26, metal whichinitially occupies the central bottom location indicated at 42 oi theblank- 42 shown in Fig. l, will move Aaround to some such position asindicated at 44 ot the'secondstage L-shaped blank '45 in Flg`.2.

The second-stage blanks 45 shown atthe left of Fig. 2 and also shown inFig. 6, after being sultably annealed and'tllled with liquid, are placedm in the channels 2l in the right side oi Fig. 1 as illustrated in thesaid ligure, and first-stage blanks l2 are placed in channels 30 in theleft side of Fig..l. The guide-dies 22, 2l are then 4closed to full lineassembled position shown in M Fig. 1, whereupon when the plungers 40 and4| are forced downward by the plunger-head (not shown), the first-stageblanks 42 are formed into second-stage blanks 45 and the previouslyformed second-stage blanks 45 located in the channels 3| at the right ofFig. 1, have their rounded ends 46 forced outward to become the'at ends41 shown at the right of Fig. 2, to form the thirdstage blanks 48 shownat the right of the figure referred to and in Fig. 7. By removing the atend portion 41 of the third-stage blank 48, a nished elbow 49 isproduced as shown in Fig. 7. The elbow 49 may, if desired, have one orboth of its respective opposite ends expanded as indicated by brokenlines at 50 in Fig. 8.

It will be appreciated that instead of making two different stage blanksat one operation as illustrated in Figs. 1 and 2, the die assembliescould be so constructed and operated as to make all blanks, at a givenoperation, the same or duplicates of one another, by having theright-hand stop-abutments identical with those at .the left hand of Fig.1.

By providing a die assembly which is divided in planes transverse to theplane of the elbow to be produced rather than dividing, the dies in aplane parallel with the ilatwise plane of the elbow, not only isi'nterchangeability achieved,

but the various units may be accurately and' economically produced. Forinstance, the guideand defiecting-channel grooves of the defiectingdieunit may be conveniently produced by a sim ple milling operation, andsimilarly the guideand deilecting-channel grooves of the guide-die unitsmay be milled. Furthermore, in forming the rounded portion or filletinterconnecting the adjacent ends of the straight grooves, a die-unitmay be revolved about the axis of the said rounded portion so that amilling cutter will serve the purpose of producing this portion also,rather than requiring time consuming and expensive die-sinkingoperations which would loe necessary were an angular recess to be formedall in one face of a die-block. Also, the fact that the stopabutments 32and 35 are separately made and.

separately attached to the die assembly, facilitates forming thedefiecting-channel grooves by a milling cutter with complete freedomand`hlgh speed without the need of special nishing operations forforming the end surfaces 34 and 36 of the stop-abutments, such as wouldbe necessary if the stop-abutments were integrally formed with eitherthe base block or guide dies.

'I'he invention may be carried out in other specific ways than thoseherein set forth without departing from the spirit and essentialcharacteristics of the invention, and the present embodiments are,therefore, to be considered in al1 respects as illustrative and notrestrictive, and

all changes coming within the meaning and equivalency range of theappended claims are intended to be embraced therein.

I claim:

1. A die assemblyV for forming hollow metal articles comprising: twosimilarly-constructed guide-die units, and a single deflecting-die unit;each of thev former having angularly-related faces substantiallycoextensive with angularlyrelated face-portions of the latter; the saiddefiecting-die unit including oppositely-extending base-faces arrangedbelow and respectively facing one of the angularly-related faces of eachof said guide-die units, and the said deflectingdie unit also includingoppositely-facing sidefaces interposed between said guide-die units andrespectively facing the other angularly-related face of each of the saidguide-die units; the latter being each provided with a groove extendingfrom end to end thereof in its said angular-lyrelated faces andproviding one complemental half of an article-forming channel therein;and the said de'ecting-die unit having a groove extending from the outerend of each of said oppositely-facing side-faces to the outer end ofeach Yof said ppositely-extending base-faces, the grooves of the saiddeflecting-die unit each providing one half of' an article-formingchannel and respectively complementing the half of the article-formingchannel in each of the said guidedie units.

2. A die assembly for formingA hollow metal articles comprising: twosimilarly-constructed guide-die units, and a single defiecting-die unit;

spectively facing the other angularly-related face y of each of the saidguide-die units; the latter being each provided with a groove extendingfrom end to end thereof in its said angularlyrelated faces and providingone complemental half of an article-forming channel therein; the saiddeecting-die unit having a groove extending from the outer end of eachof said oppositelyfacing side-faces to the outer end of each of saidopppsitely-extending base-faces, the groovesvof the said defiecting-dieunit each providing one half of an article-forming channel andrespectively' complementing the half of the articleforming channel ineach of the said guide-die units; and separate abutment-members, e'achconstructed and arranged to intert with and to be xedly secured in placein the groove of one of the said guide-die units and thecomplementing-groove of the defiecting-die unit adjacent the terminatingouter ends of the respective grooves, 'to close the said article-formingcham,

